Method and apparatus for drilling holes



Jan. 19 1926.

J. s. MITCHELL' t METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR, DRILLING HOLS Filed March 26'; 1'9191 Patented J an. 19, 1926i UNITED STATES JOSEPH STUART MITCHELL OF CHICAGO'ILLINOIS, ASSIGNOR TO` SULLIVAN MACHIN- ERY COMPANY, A CORPORATION OF MASSACHUSETTS.

METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR DRILLING HOLES.

'Application led March 2 6, 1919. Serial No. 285,379.

To al! whom t may concern:

. Be it known that I, 'JOSEPH S. lVIrrcHELL,

a citizen of the United States, residing at Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, have invented-certain new and useful Improvements in Methods andu Apparatus for Drilling Holes, of which the following isl a full, clear, and exact specification. n

My invention relates to methods and apparatus for drilling holes.

One object of the present invention is to provide an improved' hole deiiecting means, and more especially a means for deflecting a core drill so that a new core may be obtained hundreds of feet under ground without having to start a new hole. Another object is to provide an improved deiecting means which may be used at any point in a hole for delecting the hole in any direction desired. These and other objects and advantages of my invention will, however, hereinafter" more fully appear.

In the accompanying drawings I have shown one embodiment which my invention may assume in practice, although it is to be understood that the same is used for illustrative purposes only and that the invention is not limited to the embodiment herein shown.

In these drawin s,-

Fig. 1 is a longltudinal sectional' View of a deflected hole with my improved deflecting means shown therein.

Fig. 2 is a sectional view of a hole with my deflector therein, part of the delector being shown in section.

Fig. 3 is a side elevation, partly in section,

of the lower part of the deilector.

Fig. 4 Vis a central longitudinal section through my improved core drill.

Fig. 5 is a. transverse section taken on the line 5 5 of Fig. 2.

In the illustrative constructionjshown, I preferably employ as a delector al deflecting wedge 1, preferably made of Va plurality of parts, herein two, 'the upper part 2 being Secured to the lower part 3 by any suitable means, such as the overlapping and riveting of the ends of the sections as shown at 4. For placingthe wedge 1 in position, I preferably. provide near the top of the section 2 a plurality of small holes 6 so that the wedge may be fastened by any suitable means, such as rivets or bolts, to a drill rod 7. The inclined or longest face of the wedge is preferably concave, as shown at 5, in order that the wedge or deflecting member mayA -more accurately guide a cutting tool. e Near the top of the upper section 2 of the 60` wedge, I also provide a small inclined hole 8, for purposes to be more fully hereinafter described. I also provide near the bottom of the larger wedge section 3 an inclined hole 9 passing from the concaved face 5 through the wedge'to the base thereof. As will be noted, thisend of the wedge 3 is also adapted for attachment to a pipe or other supporting means through the provision of a threaded projection 10. l

In the improved form of.my device herein disclosed, I also provide a wedge supporting and anchorage means which preferably consists of two pipe sections 11 and 1.2 having elongated interlocking teetlr 13 and 14, the upper section 11 being provided with a threaded end 15, whereby th1s section may be securely attached to the lower wedge section 3. The two pipe sections 11 and 12 may be secured together by any means desired, but for purposes which will more fully hereinafter appear I preferably unite these two pipe sections b means of a wooden core or plug 16. his plug has a driving 'lit inthe upper section 11, but is preferably secured to both sections by spikes 17 and 18.

In my improved drilling apparatus, which cooperates with the deiecting means above described for boring a deflected hole, I preferably use a drill tube section 19 which carries on its lower end a drill bit 20 which may of itself comprise a cutting tool or it may carry cutting instruments, as, for instance, diamonds. This drill tubel section 19 is further provided with a core retaining means (not shown) of a type common in core drills to facilitate the raising of a core to the surface. The drill tube section 19 may, if desired, be attached to another drill tube Section, as 21, or it may be at- A tached directly to the drill rod. In the form of my invention shown in the drawings, the drilling apparatus is of the core drilling type, and I preferabl use a second drill tube section 21 i'n or er that the core obtained during each drilling operation may be of great length. The drill sections aref' carrying on each side thereof threaded nipples 23 and 24 to facilitate the connecting of the coupling to the two pipe sections 19 and 21.U This coupling 22 lis preferably formed as a swelled coupling 1n order that the periphery of the coupling w1ll extend outside the periphery of the drill tools to I and the rod is then drilling apparatus.

enable the operator to properly seat cutting instruments, such as diamonds, in this coupling and thusform a. reaming 1nstru ment. The drilling apparatus just described is connected to the rather inflexible drill rod 7 by a smaller flexible hollow drill 1'od-25, this drill rod 25 being preferably connected with the drill tube 21 by two couplings 26 and 27.

In the operation of my improved apparatus for deflecting holes, when it is found necessary to change the direction of the hole,

as may occur when a substance is encoun-4 tered which cannot be easily drilled through or when in core drilling` a poor core has been obtained and it is desired to obtain a new core for a part of the depth of the original hole 28, my improved deflector is inserted in the original hole substantially as shown in Fig. 2. To facilitate the insertion of the deflector, and to prevent the end of the drilling apparatus from engagingV the upper and narrow end of the deflector, the original hole 28 is preferably reamed, as shown at 29, from a point about ten feet above the bottom vof the hole to a point above the position which the urpper end of the deflector would occupy when resting against the bottom of the hole. If desired, the deflector may be used without fastening it securely in a predetermined position in the hole, but I preferably pour into the holea quantity of plaster of Paris, clay, or other suitable material, as shown at 12', and force the pipe section 12 into this material by applying hydraulic or other pressure to the drill rod 7. After the deflector has been properly positioned in the bottom ofthe original hole, as above described, additional pressure is applied t0 the rod 7 suflicient to shearl the r1vets or bolts which attach the rod to the deflector,

withdrawn.

A drilling mechanism such as is shown in Fig. 4 may then be attached to the lower end ofthe drill rod 7 and the drilling operation may be carried on in the ordinary way.4

The reaming, swelled coupling 22 reams the deflected hole and prevents binding of the drilling mechanism in this new hole. If the angle of deflection is small or the material drilled quiteV soft, this reaming coupling need not necessarily be used. The small flexible rod 25 will bend easily without breaking and without binding in the hole, and greatly increases the efficiency of the If the depth of the de- 8 of the wedge element 2.

.tate the flected hole'is very great, several sections similar to the small drill rod 25 may have to be added as the deflected hole is deepened.

The angle \of deflection shown in Fig. l is relatively large as compared with the angle of deflection that will ordinarily have to be used,'but in order to clearly bring out the placing of( the different members this angle lhas been slightly exaggerated. However, it should be noted that the limited angle at which the deflected hole may be bored to the original hole depends primarily upon the flexibility of the small drill' rod 25, and that a greater angle of deflection may be obtained by using any one of 'a number of known flexible power transmitting devices.

The deflecting face 5 need not necessarily be concaved, it being possible to deflect a hole by leaving this face 5 flat. This flattened face will guide the cutting mechanism sufficiently accurately where the original hole is not of great depthand the deflected hole is not of great length. However, the concave guide face 5 is preferably used since it guides the cutting mechanism' more accurately, and since it facilitates the use of a cutting mechanism ofthe same size as was used in boring they original hole, al-4 though, as is apparent, this apparatus will guide accurately a smaller cutting mechanism. This latter feature is very important, especially in the core drilling operations, since it permits the removal of a core of the lallne s ,ize as was removed from the original When the deflected hole has"been completed and it is desired to remove the deflecting means, vthis may be readily accomplished by using a hook suitably attached t'o the lower end of the drill rod 7. This hook is projected ianto the hole and is worked backv and forth until it catches in the hole If hydraulic pressure or other force `be applied to raise the rod 7 vertically, this pressure will be transmitted through the wedge elements and pipe section 11 to the plug 16 and shear the lower spikes 18, thus separating the main portion of the deflector from the smaller and less costly anchorage means.. It is not essential to the operationof the present devico that the interlocking means 13 and 14 carried by the pipe sections 11 and 12, respectively, be used, but vhere the shearing action may be difficult the cooperating surfaces of the interlocking teeth tend to ropipe section 11 slightly on the pipe section 12 and increase materially the shearing action. l

If it is desired to save the whole deflector, as may be necessary in core drilling in remote places where it is difficult to obtain vanchor 12 tothe wall of the hole. For asy of the lower pipe.

sisting this operation,- the hole 9 hasbeen'A formed in the lower wedge section to permit water to flow into vpipes 11 and 12, a small hole being preferably formed in the plug 16 to permit water to flow into the center It should be noted that my improved hole deflecting means may be constructed to defiect a hole at any angle and usedjto bring this about in any direction desired from the original hole, and it should befurther noted that any number of deflections may be made from the originalholefat about the same point therein by changing-theposition of the deflector in the hole. yIffitf'is desirable t0 deflect .a hole at any point above lor below the original deflection, longer or shorter anchorage pipes may be used or the hole may be filled in for some distance to provide a base on which the deflecting means may rest.

It should further be noted that my hole deflecting means is composed of but a few strong, easily vassembled parts capable -of withstanding-the hard usage to which they are subjected. Another improved feature of this device is-that the drilling mechanism is easily formed from the', original drilling mechanism by merely adding; the small drill rod 25 with the proper coupling means, and the swelled reaming coupling.22, if" it is necessary to use the latter. 1

While I havev in this cally described one embodiment which my invention may assume in"practice,it is to be understood that the same is used for illustrative purposes only and that the invention may be modified to assume various forms withoutdeparting from its spirit or the scope of the appended claims.

lVhat I claim as new and desire eo secure by Letters Patent is:

1. In a hole drilling apparatus, a raising and lowering member, a deflector having along inclined deflecting face formed'thereon, and means for securing said member to said defiector, said securing means being releasabletby a predetermined force applied to said member.

2. In a hole drilling apparatus, a supporting member, a deflector interlocking with said member, and mea-ns for securing' said member and defiector, said securing means being releasable by 'a predeterlnined force applied to said deflector.

3. In a hole drilling apparatus, a deflecting member, a supporting member therefor, and means comprising an element more rigidly secured to one of said members than to the other for uniting said members.

Ll. In a hole deflecting apparatus, a stipporting member insertable into a hole, means for securing said member in the hole, a deliecting device, and means comprising an `aizplication' specifi-v element more rigidly secured to said device than tol said member for uniting said device and member.

5.' In a hole deflecting apparatus, a supportingmember insertable into a hole, means forv securing said member in the hole, a defleeting device, an interlocking means between said member and device comprising mating teeth having inclined surfaces' formed o-n said member and device. and means comprising an element more rigidly secured to said device than to said member for uniting said device and member.

6. In a hole drilling apparatus, a supporting member insertable into a hole, means for securing said member in the hole, a deflecting device, interlocking means between said member and device comprising interlocking projections on said members having parallel contacting faces arranged at an angle to an element of the surface of said membe-r, and means arranged between said device and said member and secured to each of them for uniting them. f

'7. In a core drilling apparatus, a flexible cutting mechanism having a plurality of cutting tools mounted in longitudinal spaced relation thereon, and a deflecting mechanism cooperating therewith to change the direction of the hole. v

8. In a core drilling apparatus, cutting mechanism comprising a relatively inflexible drill rod, a relatively flexible rod secured to` the vlower end thereof, a cutting tool mountedon thev flexible rod, and a deflecting mechanism cooperating to change the direction of the hole, whether the same be vertical or inclined. l

9. In a core drilling apparatus, a cutting `mechanism comprising a. relatively inflexi-l ble drill rod, a flexible drill rod attached thereto and a drill member having longitudinally spaced cutting and reaming elements,

and a deflecting device adapted to deflect the axis of said drill member from alinement with that of the first mentioned drill rod.

10, In a deflecting apparatus for use in deflecting the hole. drilled by a core drill, a defiector having a guiding means, anchorage means for said deflector, and a cutting mechanism cooperating therewith for making a deflected cut, said cutting mechanism comprising a plurality of longitudinally spaced cutting tools Vand a flexible means for operating the tools.

11. In a deflecting apparatus for use in deiecting the hole drilled'y by a. core drill, a delector having a guiding surface, de.- tachable `anchorage means for said deflector, and a cutting mechanism cooperating with said defiector for making a deflected cut,` said cutting mechanism comprising a cutting tol, a reaming tool', and a flexible means raf means, a relatively inflexible drill rod; and means for drilling a deflected hole at an angle greater than the maximum possible angle between the axes of the rod and of the hole, said means comprising a delecting devicel and a connection between said rod and drill whereby the latter may be laterally deflected relative to the former and being op-v erative to effect the drilling of holes inclined to the vertical.

13. In a core drilling apparatus, drilling means, a relatively inflexible drill rod and means for drilling a deflected hole at a depth such that the angle of deflection will be having a surface making an angle with the axis of the hole substantially equal to the desired angle of deflection said means being operative to eect the drilling of holes inclined to the vertical.

In testimony whereof I ailix my signature.

JOSEPH STUART MITCHELL. 

